While the public is waiting for what the Supreme State Prosecutor's Office will say about the allegations that Minister Suad Numanović changed the official license plates on his private, official Mercedes during the weekend, the NGO sector warns that "the minister's silence is unacceptable".
Not even the fourth day since "Vijesti" published the text, Numanović did not advertise.
"VDT has launched an investigation into this issue and we should certainly wait and see if they will appreciate that in this particular case there are elements of the criminal part that are being prosecuted ex officio. However, despite that institutional reaction, I truly believe that the absence of the need for Minister Numanović to address the public on this issue is unacceptable, and his silence leaves room for various speculations and interpretations. It seems to me that this is one of those cases where, if of course the truth of the alleged accusations is established, the principle of personal responsibility will have to be satisfied, that is, the minister would have to take responsibility for his actions", says Ana Vujošević from the Center for Civic Education (CGO). , for Radio Free Europe (RSE).
The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Montenegro previously told "Vijesta" that they did not issue approval for the parallel use of license plates for a car belonging to the Ministry of Human and Minority Rights, nor "is there a legal basis for this".
While the Prosecutor's Office is collecting data, Numanović's colleagues from DPS refuse to comment on this case, pointing out that he probably had a reason to do it, while the opposition has a different view.
"There's no way we can look around and marvel at the creativity of people, I'm not talking about the specific case of officials and people from the Government in various forms of abuse. Well, this is another sight. Although I have heard that from some others. Yes, some others, and I don't know if that is true and if there is evidence that some other colleagues, or so to speak, people who perform public functions - do that. I think it's bad, that it's a very frivolous image of the state, of state institutions, and I think it would be necessary for all of us to come to our senses," said independent MP Dritan Abazović.
And the CGO points to another important dimension - that high officials, in addition to the work they perform, also represent a "model of behavior" for all other citizens.
"As a minister in the government and one of the holders of the most important functions - he would have to be a man who would be a model of behavior for all other citizens and thus protect the integrity and reputation of the function he performs, which, it seems to me, has been called into question by this procedure. That's why I expect Minister Numanović to take full responsibility, regardless of the reaction and further actions of the prosecutor's office in this matter," Vujošević told RSE.
The government had no information that Numanović had changed official license plates to private ones on his official car.
The head of the government's public relations bureau, Srđan Kusovac, announced that the government did not comment on the allegations from the "Vijesti" issue, without answering what the government will do because of Numanović's action. The MUP announced earlier that they will sanction the minister if he is stopped on the road with someone else's license plates.
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